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WHC/WHF Ginko: Charnwood Arts - Beacon Hill

 

In the last of the three major events of the WHC/WHF World Haiku Autumn Festival, WHC members from different parts of the world participated in a World-wide Ginko by sending their poems to Paul Conneally, the organiser.

Simultaneously, in Loughborough, north of Leicester, England, members of WHC and their families enjoyed a country walk in the nearby wood at Beacon Hill. The leaves are just beginning to turn red and yellow, and mushrooms and wild berries added to the autumnal splendour.

On the following day, Susumu Takiguchi and Debra Bender (who was visiting England) were invited to select haiku poems written by local and international poets for Charnwood Arts MiniWords 2001 haiku competition. Kevin Ryan of Charnwood Arts was the organised of the competition, which attracted a great number of entries.

Paul Conneally interviewed Susumu Takiguchi and Debra Bender to ask their views on some central issues of haiku such as haiku spirit and its form and prosody, which would be broadcast on Charnwood Arts’ online Cuttlefish Radio. The two-day event proved to be a happy collaboration between a local arts organisation and WHC and at the same time between different local poets across the world.

 

A Haiku Gallery of the WHC Autumn Festival Ginko
at Beacon Hill, Loughborough, Charnwood
September 23, 2001

Photography and art-photos by D. W. Bender

Click images to see larger images or to "walk through" the gallery

Haiku Series: Kevin Ryan
	mother and son squabble - the gentle rustle of wind between birch leaves	families on the path - through holes in the canopy an overcast sky
	yellow leaves - a ring of saplings around an old oak
	on the upward path - following a route which water runs down	birch leaf mosaic - the steady crunch of boots on loose stones
	fanta bottle - the quiet stillness of an old pond	on Beacon Hill - the first signs of rain in an old pond
	fallen leaves cluster - the earth ripples in an old pond
	skeletal ferns - the damp smells of a forest beyond summer
	mist in the valley - friends move slowly up the hill in the autumn rain
	oak leaves on rich earth - each footfall in the mud prints a story
	voices in the woods - the sound of old friends reveals another!	downhill jogger - a starburst of sequins on blue flares
	the low sweep of branches - a path through the gap in a dry stone wall
	ripple whistles plastic - a child's last attempts to conquer the sky	granite faced - the kids climb the oldest rocks in England
	slicker slatter - bright colours of summer flowers in an autumn sky
	a rainbow hovers against smoky grey clouds - a father's joy	kids run off to play - blood curdling screams from the bushes
	the thick bracken turns - rose bay willow herb and sweet chestnuts
	rare breed sheep - my son asks - 'after Chernobyl do they glow in the dark?'	autumn colours - mouse brown woolly backs graze the hillside
	'great place for haiku'- from the giant beech shadows rounds of laughter
	a mud wall of broken roots - the wind quickens through the birches
	fallen limbs - curves that open to rich wooden wombs	soles of my feet - the sway of birch leaves in a dream
	autumn evening - the flight of two crows on the way to roost	autumn evening - whilst watching the sky my left foot in dog shit
	grey autumn sky - a golden beech candelabras over it's sapling
Haiku Series: Frances Ryan
	a fall of leaves - don't pick the fungi off those trees!
	empty of people the forest stirs
	autumn drizzle voices muffle along the path	a bend in the path strangers peer from afar
	panoramic view children wrestle on Beacon Hill
	underneath dark-canopied trees light glistens
	orange mushrooms can you see the pond skaters?	the wait for children kites wheel and dive overhead
Haiku Series: Brendan Ryan
	autumn shower - leaves fall in the forest	endless path to the top - half way there
	essence of life - water-park animal's wonderworld
Haiku Series: Paul T. Conneally
	three kites rise into a grey Autumn sky stunted oaks
	rain in the wind yellow oak leaves under a silver birch
	the darkness of old beech trees children's laughter
	leaning over a pond covered with leaves some late blackberries
Haiku Series: Susumu Takiguchi
	local competition -- judging so many poems on deepening autumn
	cold drizzle -- green acorns still clustered on the tree
	autumn raindrops join pond skaters -- the old pond disturbed
	mushroom ears terraced on a silver birch . . . whiter than the bark
Haiku Series: Debi Bender
	mushroom ears cling to a broken birch a few friends lost
	yellow leaves fall one over another over. . . horse droppings
	old birch white bark far above the rough
	rocky path a taste of wild blackberry shared with a horsefly
	middle-aged walkers going downhill in September rain
	a green fragrance and Nottingham appears in the far mist
	slender reeds spike a clump marsh mallow
	bombsite plants black-faced sheep look up from their grazing
	English countryside -- of all the plants recognized from childhood, stinging nettles
	Beacon Hill gray clouds hang above rainbow colored kites
	a cedar bird box nailed to the fallen birch
Friends on the Path
To Oisin Ryan who had a page of fine haiku which were lost: a haiku for you --
	side-by-side with you after the ginko, a soft gleam on Indian brass
	Frances Ryan, Susumu Takiguchi and Oisin Ryan on the footpath of Beacon Hill
	Joseph Conneally enjoying the ginko outing with friends.
	Oisin (left) and Brendan (right) Ryan decide on what to eat.
	WHC Chairman, Susumu Takiguchi (center) discusses the menu with WHC Director of Arts, Kevin Ryan (left), Frances Ryan, Oisin and Brendan (above photo) and WHC Development Director, Debi Bender (taking the photos).

 

 Worldwide Ginko Haiku

Charnwood Arts miniWORDS Haiku Competition

Charnwood Arts "Cuttlefish Internet Radio" Interview

Charnwood Arts News Archive

 

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